by Paul Daugherty, USA TODAY Sports

by Paul Daugherty, USA TODAY Sports

Barring a significant change of minds, the Reds are expected to announce today that Aroldis Chapman will close. All together now:

Bad decision

The question to be posed: What happened to the plan?

Why did the Cincinnati Reds spend $21 million on Jonathan Broxton to pitch the eighth? You're already spending big bucks on a setup guy, Sean Marshall.

Is there something wrong with Chapman? I'm not talking about shoulder fatigue from a couple years ago. If we shut down pitchers for shoulder fatigue or general pitching pains, most would never pitch. Has he not pitched well enough to justify the decision made last fall? Why not?

Does this indicate Dusty Baker calls the big shots now?

So he doesn't have a good second pitch, or a viable changeup.

Right.

You mean to tell me that a guy with his ability, in his third big league season, can not/has not learned to throw at least a decent slider? A passable change? I call BS on that. I watched his slider two years ago. You did, too. If the Reds didn't think he could master a second pitch, why did they pay him in the first place? The original idea was for to be a top of the rotation guy.

I won't go over, again, the multitude of reasons, obvious, obscure, statistical and common-sensical, that Chapman should be in the rotation. I'll add this to the party:

Having him close is a bad financial deal, too.

He's arbitration-eligible next winter. Two great closing seasons will cost the club more money than one solid season as a starter.

If he closes, the Reds will need another starter after this year, assuming this is if for Bronson Arroyo, which is a safe assumption. If Chapman had been in the rotation and done even moderately well, they'd need a middle reliever. The cash difference between those two commodities is significant.

Beyond Dusty stomping his foot and publicly lobbying, not sure what the reasoning here is for the change in plans. The Reds should be very good, regardless, between April and September. But they are bypassing a wonderful opportunity to bolster their October chances. Seemingly just so a manager can retain his security blanket.